Post by Rogues' Gallery on Apr 19, 2024 15:24:15 GMT -5
He gripped the throttle tight and shifted gears on the bike beneath him. He cranked the throttle and took off like a rocket. The car behind him struggled to keep up, but its engine roared to life and soon the car was right on his tail. Superunknown kept his eyes fixed on the dark road ahead illuminated by the combination of his lone headlight and the headlights of the car behind him. Who is driving? Well, Superunknown cannot make out the face of the driver in the darkness… There is a laundry list of those who are coming for him and Jeremy The Wicked right. Never//More is up first, but then there is the Malvados, Flowers of Carnage… This dark spirit coming for him in the night may be faceless for all he knows. It could be an amalgamation of these entities for all he knew.
The car moves forward and nearly collides with him, but he swerves and dodges the attempt to run him off the road. Black skid marks and rubber smoke fills the air as the driver steps on the accelerator pedal and the front bumper of the muscle car makes contact with the back tire of Superunknown's motorbike. He tries to hold on as he is bumped forward violently but eventually the physics proves unconquerable and Superunknown and the bike go down. He skids across the pavement and bounces off the guardrails back and forth like a pinball before he drags to a stop. His leather jacket and riding pants are shredded, but somehow, perhaps miraculously, he is not badly injured.
Props to the Big Guy.
He thinks to himself.
Someone is up there watching out for me.
The sound of a car door slamming shut shakes him back to the present situation as the dark figure slowly steps toward him, obscured by the bright headlines shining in his eyes. The figure reaches him and softly places the nose of a pistol behind his ear.
Well, I guess I ain’t out of the woods entirely yet.
“Welcome to the Scoopslam Podcast! I’m your host, Brendan Burkwell. Today, we have two very exciting guests. It seems like the 90s are back in a big way! Pearl Jam just released an album that is arguably their best in years. Thunder Pro Wrestling's Retromania 2: Alternate Reality is coming in May. I'm sitting here today with the current Thunder Pro Wrestlings's Duos Champions, Rogues Gallery, two wrestlers who draw their namesake from two Seattle juggarnauts from the grunge era, Jeremy The Wicked and Superunknown. How are you doing fellas?”
“We’re great Brendan, thanks for having us on man,” Jeremy The Wicked says, smiling.
“Anytime, but listen… let's get down to it. Last Friday Night Fury you two teamed up with one-half of Never//More, the team you'll be defending your titles against at Retromania in a Texas Death Match, Matt Knox to face the Malvado Brothers and Hanako Tohei. It seemed like the three of you worked well together and were victorious in the match, yet you took out “The Raven” after the match with a Fastball. Why?”
Jeremy and Superunknown shoot each other a look. They both smirk and a chuckle escapes Superunknown’s lips.
“Why not? I felt and I know JTW agrees with me here. We were sending a message. The fact that Knox insists on being a showboat made the decision even easier.”
“Look, I’m happy for Never//More. They won the S.E.X. Cup final match. The Hurricane Hustle was a tough match for all four teams, but the Malvados ensured it was hard for us to get the win. I won’t make excuses, at the end of the day, Never//More pulled it off, despite the fact that I laid Amber and damn near broke her with that Air Raid Crash from the top of the ladder. So hats off to them… they now however, are coming for us and they’ve got the upperhand being able to set the stipulation. That doesn’t matter though, we aren’t just going to step into that ring at Retromania 2 and be good little boy scouts, nah… we aren’t looking to win any honor badges. We aren’t playing for any of that, we’re playing for blood. We put Never//More on notice.”
“So at Friday Night Fury you, Superunknown will be stepping into the ring alongside the American Champion, Maxwell Mason Stone, taking on Matt Knox and “Mr. TPW” Larry Tact. Are you concerned at all that Matt Knox will be looking for retribution?”
Superunknown shrugs. His shoulders stand like boulders on top of a mountain range.
“Well of course he will be… but we aren’t at the end of this saga. We are still in the first half. So I’m looking to get at Knox just as much as he wants to get at me and Larry Tact, he can catch a Death Knell if he’s feeling froggy too. I haven’t spoken to MMS, but I’m confident in standing alongside the American Champion. I have no doubts that when that bell rings and all is said and done, the two of us will be raising our hands in victory.”
“Get up…” the figure holding the gun to Superunknown’s head demanded.
Duncan sat motionless for a moment, contemplating his next move.
“Get the FUDGE UP!”
“Alright, partner… hold your horses. I’m getting there.”
Superunknown slowly rose to his feet, he towered over his captor, but the captor had him dead to rights. Holding a great equalizer at point blank range.
“Get in the car.”
Superunknown raises his tree limb arms over his head and he turns on his heels before he begins to march back to the car. He stops and turns and gives another look to his gnarled bike laying on the pavement before he turns back to the vehicle, shaking his head. His captor steps ahead of him and while still holding the gun on him, opens the rear passenger side door. Superunknown ducks his head down and climbs in the back seat before the captor slams the door shut. Superunknown hears the lock click shut. The captor climbs back into the driver’s seat and soon the car speeds off leaving behind a trail of dust.
As they zip down the highway, an 18 wheeler passes by them in the other lane. In the fleeting light Superunknown catches a glimpse of his captors face, or rather the glint off of her gold mask that has slipped through the shadow screen she was putting up. He begins to laugh and that laughter grows and grows.
“Is this a joke to you, Duncan?!”
“No… not a joke,” he says calmly, stealing a glance out the window at the guardrail racing by them on the driver’s side. “I just always knew you would kill me, Frances.”
“Why not? You have served your purpose, we collapsed the Technocrat’s future and now I have Shadow with me so, I don’t need you or Jeremy. If that bastard Technocrat ever sticks his head up again, I’ll be able to smite myself, but I’m not going to kill you, Duncan. No, they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, don’t they? No, I’m not going to kill you. I am going to get even though for that time, what was it 2013? During our marriage, you ran off with Dinah Devine and left me in the middle of nowhere in Albuquerque? I said I was going to get you back, you son of a bitch.”
“You’re taking me to Albuquerque?!”
“No, Duncan. You aren’t worth driving all that way. I’m not going to tell you where I’m taking you.”
Superunknown laughs again.
“Thank God for GPS!”
“About that…” Frances snatches her pistol from the front passenger seat and points it behind her at Superunknown.
“And we’re back from that short advertisement break. So you’ve recently parted ways with Frances Farmer? Why so soon?”
Superunknown sits back and crosses his arms over his chest, smiling bigly.
“That’s just how Frances is… she’s temperamental, she’s a force of nature and well, at the end of the day. She does what she wants.”
“And what she wanted was off the team.”
“She was an invaluable asset when we needed her and well, we no longer employ that asset. I’ll keep it at that.”
Brandon Burkwell nods his head.
“Gotcha, moving on… are there any doubts, given the Texas Deathmatch stipulation that was added, that you’ll be able to retain your titles at Retromania 2?”
Superunknown shoots a glance to his partner, Jeremy The Wicked.
“You want to take this one J?”
Jeremy shakes his head.
“Nah… you go ahead.”
“Yeah, I mean. There is a good reason to take Never//More as a threat, right? But I’m gone to hell and back for this business. I gave up the business I had dreamt of starting since I was a kid, I’ve bled in that ring. I’ve drank untold shots of tequila in there. In my old CPW days, I fought in a Vs Toyko match. Crushing buildings like Godzilla and being thrown into them and even though it was a miniature set, they still made those things pretty sturdy to withstand the impacts of a wrestling match. I’ve been to hell and back and we can take there if we need to.”
“Give me your phone,” Frances says holding the pistol out with a total stillness.
“C’mon, Franc-”
“I’ll fudgin’ shoot you, now hand it over!”
“Alright,” Superunknown says as he leans forward and pulls the phone from his pocket and tosses it up to her. Frances slams on the breaks.
“And your wallet too…”
“Really?”'
She cocks back the hammer.
“OK,” Superunknown says as he tosses his wallet to her as well.
“Now...” Frances presses a button and the door unlocks.
“Get out.”